Ceasefire
by Samurai Bebop
Summary: A temporary ceasefire is announced. Squad 7 decides to make the most of it. A series of one-shots about what the soldiers are doing in their spare time. WARNING: No rules and borderline experimental.


'**Ceasefire' – A 'Valkyria Chronicles' fanfiction.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Valkyria Chronicles. Everything is owned by SEGA. Please support the official release.**

* * *

I've wanted to be the center of attention since I was six years old. Whenever there was a chance to impress the teacher, or any of the girls, I was there. Of course I got teased whenever I messed up, but whenever I brought something amazing to the classroom I was showered with words of praise, and by golly I loved it. There was a chance of box office success, or an unexpected flop. That's why I've decided to become a movie star.

Unfortunately for me, everybody's sitting at home praying that their sons and daughters will come home safe, instead of having a good time at the movie theater. This brings me to Squad 7. I'm going to be honest here, I like the whole 'action movie' thing, but when you're on the front lines with complete strangers; you're not going to run out guns blazing like some kinda moron that thinks he's a hero. When I enlisted I decided to keep it by the book, and stay alive. Even if someone was going to die, I wasn't going to do a thing. It was their problem, not mine.

Well, that's what my original plan was. That all changed yesterday. Some nerdy guy named Karl came under heavy fire. They were flanking him, and for some reason I felt an obligation to help the guy out. Don't know what came over me. I'm going to be honest here; I'm not noble, or selfless, but I tried to help him. The key word here is 'tried' because I couldn't do it in the end. I was so tired I ended up falling flat on my face while running over to back him up. Lucky for us some shock named Nina came sprinting over like a fearless hyena. It was like watching a real-life action movie, seeing her mow those imps down. But in the end Karl ended up taking a few bullets to his right leg. For the first time in my life I felt something strange come over me. I think it starts with a G? Gee-ilt…goo-ilt…gue-elt?

Anyway, it didn't feel too good. Didn't even feel like flirting with any of the girls afterward. Only thing I had on my mind was Karl on the ground in a pool of blood. That's when I decided to get help. Partly so I'm a little more useful to my squad, but mostly for the sake of my future adoring fans.

"Hermes Kissinger, eh? You're the pretty boy that wouldn't shut up during briefing," said the tanned lady, leaving the door wide enough to get a look at me. "Well, whaddya want with us? We're kinda in the middle of something here," she said with a bit of irritation in her voice.

A cute but frightening scream came from behind the half-opened door.

"Has that...always bended that way?" a deep voice asked.

There was a ten second pause. "Rose! We've got a problem!" I recognized that voice. It was Nina's alright. I was at the right place.

"Ah whatever, come in twinky," Rosina said punching the door open nearly breaking my exquisite nose. "But do us all a favor and take off those stupid sunglasses. Its 7'oclock in the evening."

"Fine," I croaked. Came in and shut the door behind me. The room was full of mirrors and mats. And sweat. Lots and lots of sweat. It's pretty gross if you asked me. There were four people in the room, all of them wearing grey sweatshirts and black shorts.

A darcsen was lying on the mat wincing in pain. She looked over and faked a smile. "Greetings!" she said.

"Yo."

Rosina came over and picked the girl up. I'm maybe exaggerating, but she twisted her like an animal balloon. Somehow it ended with Rosina giving her a backbreaker.

"So what brings you to our little clubhouse, Kissinger?" Nina asked.

"Well, I was wondering if you could give me a bit of training, y'know for the whole future movie career and all," I said watching the girl pant on the floor. The man wearing a headband comforted her while Rosina started kissing her arms.

"Hoho, so you think you've got what it takes, eh?" she said pounding my back. I smiled painfully before putting my hand on my back to comfort myself. "I have a similar friend who thought it was all fun and games."

"And what happened to him?" I said grooming my back.

"He ended up getting so much brain damage he started thinking his jokes were actually funny," she said. "He also got a Mohawk."

"That's horrible," I said genuinely frightened.

"On the bright side, he is a lot more energetic now. Don't know if that's from the training or from the meat intake. It's probably the latter," she said.

"You're going to be controlling my diet too?" I asked. I'm a tad bit worried the calories are going to destroy my flawless figure.

"What, you think we're just going to be doing a few push-ups? Hun, it ain't just a small hobby, this is a way of life," she said passionately, gripping her fist into a ball. "Make no mistake about it. You're going to sweat and you're going to bleed. You've gotta be ready to go home on a stretcher if you're working out with us," she said pointing her thumb at the girl's corpse.

I think I'm starting to regret this already.

"So, what's your answer?" she asked up in my face.

"I made up my mind before I got here. I'm staying."

"If you insist. Can't say I didn't warn ya Kissinger," Nina said. "Meet us at Randgriz Park tomorrow morning, 9'oclock sharp. Then we'll see if the drapes match the carpet."

Something tells me you don't even know what that means. At least I hope you don't.

"Now get going. Oh, and one last thing; if you don't show up or skip even a single day, don't even bother with us anymore," she said. "You can't survive the lifestyle if you lack the passion. If you don't got the strive, you will never succeed."

* * *

**8:33 AM**

"Look who's finally decided to show up!" Rosina called angrily. It was a total drag to find them. The park was massive, and there were a lot of trees blocking your field of vision.

All four of them were by a large track field warming up. I started running over but stopped after about five seconds, remembering I shouldn't waste my energy. "I'm early!" I whined.

"You're slowing us down! Hector back me up here. Put this dweeb in his place!"

Hector Calvey. He's always the guy hanging around Rosina. She seems to respect the guy, since he acts somewhat like the straight man for her. From what I can tell he's someone you can depend on. He came over and shook my hand. "Sorry, she's a little loud in the morning. It's her way of getting us erm, 'pumped'."

"If this is a 'little' loud, than I'd hate to see 'very' loud," I remarked.

"Nadine! You ready!?" Rosina asked clenching her teeth.

"Yes," she squeaked, sounding frightened.

"Let's see the war cry I've been telling ya to work on!"

"Yaaah!" she cried.

Rosina pounded her arm. "C'mon girl, get angry! Get mad!"

"Sorry," she said clearing her breath and inhaling deeply. She screamed as loud as she could, causing everyone to plug their ears.

Rosina grinned, acknowledging the aura of discipline and power within her. "Not bad."

Just within my field of vision, a pair of black shorts flew at me, knocking me in the mouth. I caught it into my hands and looked over to Nina's rear end. Ehhhhhh, 6/10.

"You're early Kissinger, but not early enough. You should always arrive at least one hour early," she said going through her a huge, colossal sports bag. "Put these on and we'll start stretching. We've got a long day ahead of us."

"Where do I uh, change?" I asked looking around. There weren't as many trees around the track.

"Change right here," Nina said.

"Not. In. Your. Lifetime." I looked over to Hector. "She's just kidding right?" He ignored me and started whistling nonchalantly. Nadine just blushed and looked away.

"Oh grow up. We're all adults here," Rosina said.

"Yeah but it's not-"

I was rudely interrupted when a grey sweatshirt was thrown straight into my face. "Don't be such a baby. Either get dressed or get lost," Nina said.

Sigh. "Yes ma'am…" I took off my $500 jacket and put it onto the dirty, muddy ground. Next was my shirt, which I threw over my head before hearing an obnoxious laugh from Rosina and a bit of coughing from Hector. Took off my pants afterward, revealing my unique, and fresh, jaguar underwear.

"I think I'm going to throw up," Nadine said holding her mouth.

"No one's telling you to watch!" I said angrily.

"I am," Rosina said raising her hand.

"What!? Why!?"

"Here we must learn to conquer our fears," she said. "We all had to pass a test against fear. Right Hector?" she said. Hector looked down as if he was in shame. "By the way, your body is a 2/10 at maximum, and I'm just being nice. Shameful is what it is."

"Oh I am at least a 6!" I said offended.

"Alright first we'll start with a couple stretches. Then the real work begins," Nina said.

* * *

**9:00 AM**

"Ready…set…go!"

I actually managed to keep up with them. I am a scout after all, I know how to sprint and dart past people. But it didn't last very long. About one-fourth the way around the gravel track I started running out of gas. Nadine came in first, Hector second, Rosina third.

"What the hell happened!?" she said while I slugged past the finish line. Out of breath I learned down and went into a coughing fit. "You were doing fine for the first twenty seconds. Weren't you scouts supposed to get extra training with your legs!?"

"I'm more of a…ten meter sprinter," I said gasping and panting for air.

"Jeez! Even for a guy like you, that was pretty pathetic," Rosina said.

"You shouldn't be saying anything! You came in third place!" I wheezed.

"I was only two seconds away from tying. You on the other hand were forty seconds behind!"

"Whatever," I grunted lying down.

Hector offered his hand to me. "It's not good for you to lie down after running." It wasn't a commanding voice or anything, but it kind of scared me. I took his hand and he pulled me up.

"Alrighty, time for some drills!" Nina said clapping her hands.

* * *

**10:14 AM**

After a tiring hour of high knees, running backwards, skipping, and all that other crap I don't remember, we started walking back to the fitness room. Hector was nice enough to piggyback me. Embarassing I know, but it's not like any ladies were watching, right? "You can drop me here," I said. He gently put me down on the mat. It was comfy, until a sock was placed firmly across my face. "Again with the face, huh?" The stink was tremendous.

"I am very disappointed," Nina said above me. "I hope you have more to offer than that, Kissinger. Next is sparring."

I picked myself up, pushing her leg out of the way. "So, guess Hector's going to be my opponent?" I looked over to the big guy, who immediately started lifting weights once he came back.

"Nope," Nina said. "Like the militia, we don't discriminate gender here. Plus you're probably at around the same level as her."

Thought she was talking about Rosina. This is kind of cute. "Come when ready," Nadine said, using some silly looking fighting stance.

"You can't be serious," I said to Nina munching on her power bar.

"I wouldn't underestimate her if I were you Hermes," Rosina said. "The girl may be a shrimp, but I've taught her quite a bit."

"You sure about this?" I asked Nadine, who nodded eagerly. She was dead serious about this. "Alright, but don't blame me if you get hurt. I'll try to go easy on you," I said walking toward her. She gave me quick jab to the face, and her leg swept me off my feet. I ended up on the ground, confused about what had just happened.

"Tsk tsk, so many holes. Good work Nadine," Rosina said.

I looked over to my left and found Nina facepalming. "Rose; show this dweeb how a real sparring match goes."

"With pleasure," Rosina said, cracking her fists. She stared maliciously at Hector. Once the two finally made eye contact, she was all over him in a split second, kneeing him in the stomach and trying to pull him down. He didn't flinch one bit, and gently put down his training equipment while Rosina continuously wailed on his forehead. The two started grappling, and Rosina threw blow after blow into awkward areas because he kept dodging. Hector mostly blocked before eventually doing a takedown. Rosina countered and put him in a triangle choke. It was quite the sight. Hector tapped out, and Rosina withdrew. I stood in awe while Rosina and Hector gave each other a handshake as if to say 'good game'.

I have a long way to go.

* * *

**11:40 AM**

They taught me a few ways to counter, how to block, vital areas, and a few other things, but I don't feel like I'm getting stronger. I know it's only been like three hours, but I was hoping for a miracle. Maybe I've been watching too many movies where the hero goes through those training montages.

"Lunchtime," Nina said. "You come with me. I'm going to teach you about our diet."

I followed her into the kitchen. It was surprisingly in good shape, although a bit small. A table was in the corner of the room that I presumed was supposed to be used to eat on. She showed me every ingredient in their shelves, and gave me a list of things to stock up on at home. We were all expected to go by a strict diet. Losing even one day of food was even worse than missing one day of training.

Thought bodybuilding didn't require much of a brain. Boy was I dead wrong. So much memorization. So much discipline. God damn it, its like high school all over again. I'll spare you the details, but there's a lot of eating involved. Damn. Five meals a day. Tons of meat, vegetables, and water. Lucky for me she wrote this all down in advance. Measuring how many calories you need, the timing of when I eat, how much protein I should be having a day…

My life is going to get a lot more busy from here on in.

Once she was done, I took a seat by a very cramped table where everyone was eating. Hector was nice enough to share his lunch with me. The beef was pretty good, but the rest was meh. "Would you like to try a bit of my protein shake?" Nadine offered. "Made it myself."

I never refuse a lady. "I'd love to," I said immediately. Took a huge gulp. You can probably guess what goes next. First there was a bitter aftertaste, and a minute later there was a rumbling in my tummy. I bolted for the bathroom as quickly as I could.

"Don't get the floor dirty! Hector already has enough as work as it is!" Rosina said.

Came into the bathroom, locked the door, and sat my butt down. The bathroom was cramped as hell, and it wasn't helping my emergency evacuation. See, I'm a bit of a claustrophobic. After ten horrible minutes of civil war, I sat on the toilet quietly. There was a knock at the door.

"Um, are you alright?" Nadine said, her voice muffled because of the door. "I'm very sorry for the trouble. I was sure I did it right this time."

"No no! Your smoothie or whatever was delish!" I lied. "Must've been the waffles I had this morning, hahaha..."

"Is there anything I can do for you?" she asked.

"I'm fine! Don't worry about me!" I said reassuringly. "But, there was a little thing I was wondering about you for awhile now."

"Go right ahead and ask anything you like," Nadine said, eager to please.

"What are you doing here?"

There was a pause. "I'm not sure what you mean," she said.

"You just don't seem like you belong," I said. "It's not that you're a Darcsen or anything, but didn't Rosina make fun of you back then? Calling you names like 'chopsticks' and 'spineless' and stuff? Why're you here?"

"Rosina may seem a bit harsh, but she actually means well," Nadine said. "I asked her to help me become stronger. I'm doing this for myself and for my friends."

"I see."

"I don't want people like Wavy to have to protect me anymore. _And-_" she said, stopping in a shaky voice. "There's someone that saved my life, even though he claimed he hated me. I wanted to repay him, and maybe even get to know him a little." I groaned and started rolling down more toilet paper. "I should go," she said. "Rosina said she wanted me to help her with something."

"Yeah, I'll talk to you later," I said wiping my posterior in agony. Hope this place has a plunger.

* * *

**2:39 PM**

Once I finished lunch, Nina had me lift weights. I don't have much endurance, but I do have quite a bit of strength. When I really concentrate, I can do anything really. But that's the problem. I can do amazing things only for a second but it's all downhill from there. And when it goes downhill, it really goes downhill. Everything feels hopeless and empty. All my reason shifts to why I have to endure through all this. The only way to snap out of this is by rejuvenating myself through rest. If I push myself too much, I feel like I can't do anything afterwards.

This is why I walked out on them. It isn't hard to walk away since I've been doing it all my life. Asked to get some fresh air after an hour of lifting and just left afterward. They probably realized I'm long gone by now. It's going to be awkward seeing them when Squad 7 gets back together after the ceasefire, but I'm used to it by now. I've stood up multiple dates, so people see me as a flake. It's a real shame.

Wandering aimlessly right now, not really sure what to do next. Thinking of just going back to HQ and sleeping this headache off, but for some reason I felt the obligation to go to the hospital. Make no mistake about it folks, Karl getting shot was not my fault. I just happened to see him getting surrounded is-all. I haven't got a reason to feel guilty or anything like that. Just have nothing else better to do.

Well, here I am. Randgriz Hospital.

The place was pretty huge. It was a pretty old building, the whole structure was mostly made up of wood. Went through the main entrance, which had some nice vine flowers growing on its walls. Walked inside and started flirting with the front desk receptionist before asking if Karl Landzaat were here. She told me he was on the third floor, wing D, in room number 341. Climbed up the stairs and got tired halfway to the second floor. In my defense, the stairs were pretty damn steep.

They should invent some kind of technology that can just fly you up there. When I finally reached the third floor, I noticed a darcsen walk into a room which just happened to the one I was looking for. She didn't close the door, so I looked through the tiny crack.

"He's going to make it," a familiar voice echoed.

She sighed and put her head on Karl's chest, burrowing her face into his blanket. "I'm glad he's alright."

The room had its' lights off, but it was faintly illuminated by an open nearby window. The wind blew the transparent curtains, reflecting a fine orange glow throughout Karl's bed. He looked very peaceful.

Commander Welkin was sitting on a chair on the other side of Karl's bed, holding the giant card we all made a contribution to. Aisha came up with the idea. We all put our signatures on a giant pink heart that we all drew on. I guess Welkin was waiting here for him to wake up so he could surprise him. Doesn't he have anything better to do then sit around lazily?

"Sir, I would like to ask for a favor."

"Go right ahead, Lynn. Your name's Lynn, right?"

She tilted her head just enough to take a look at Welkin. "Karl's mentioned me before." He nodded. Of course he did, in fact he wouldn't shut up about you. Always talking about going back home after the war and settling down. It was annoying. Nina also told everyone 'Lynn' was apparently the last thing he muttered before going unconscious.

Lynn had a small smile on her face for a moment. "May I join Squad 7?"

Welkin wasn't surprised one bit. "I'd be an honor to have another solider in the squad, but I'd encourage you to reconsider this decision. During the solider interviews, Karl told me he joined the militia for the sole purpose of protecting you. Karl won't be too happy about this."

"I'm tired of sitting helplessly while having to watch the people around me die," she said.

"I can fight," was the last thing I heard before leaving.

It isn't too late, I think I'm going to go back. I'm a bit tired of sitting around, too.

* * *

**3:53 PM**

Can't come up with anything to say, but I wasn't going to make some dumb excuse. I'm coming clean. I opened up their door. Nadine and Rosina looked over at me with a small look of disappointment in their eyes. "I'm sorry," I said. "I was a total butthead. Please give me another shot, I swear I won't let you guys down ever again."

Nina burst out laughing when she heard me say 'butthead'. Guess she wasn't taking it as seriously as I was. "Alright you two, fork it over," Nina said wiping the tears out of her eyes. Rosina angrily handed over a few dollar bills to Hector, while Nadine gave hers to Nina.

"You were placing bets?" I asked.

"Sorry," Hector and Nadine said guiltily in unison.

"Lost faith in you for a sec there. Glad to see you're still on board," Rosina said patting me on the shoulder. "Kinda pissed I lost a couple bucks, but hell, having a new sandbag to pound on does have its advantages." She gave me a hard knock to the back before trailing off to starting an inaudible chat with Hector. I winced in pain and rubbed my back before turning to Nina's direction.

"So far, from what I can tell, you have no integrity or ability whatsoever. Skinny, cocky, and unreliable."

"I know," I said quickly.

She sighed. "But I believe in you, Hermes."

* * *

**7:38 PM**

I was helping Nins wash the dishes after we had dinner together. The rest of them had already gone home, but I stayed behind to workout a little more before going home, and to get a few pointers on my diet. To my surprise, a new face came into the building. "Who's the new meat?" he snarled coming through the door. He had a huge scar between his eyes, and his trench coat was soaking wet from the rain.

"Some slacker that wants to be a 'superstar'," she said beside me. "Don't know why I even bother with his kind." She stopped soaking the dishes to pour a drink for the gruff sounding man. "So why'd you decide to come back?"

"Just thought I'd drop by and see if you were still alive," he said chugging down a glass of...pink substance. Sure hope it's tastier than it looks.

"I'm doing better than you'd expect," she said. "Our commander is surprisingly of top-notch quality."

"Oh really. In the militia," he said cynically. "And what's this schmuck's name?"

"Welkin Gunther."

He slowly put down his glass. "So Belgen had a son, eh?"

"That's right," she said.

"Interesting." He began to leave even though he arrived just a few seconds ago. "And what's the number of your squad, little lady?"

"Seven," she said casually, picking up his glass and throwing it into the sink.

He stormed off without saying another word, putting his hood back over his head.

"Who's the old man?"

"Just some nut," she put bluntly.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading my schlock! See you around town, champ!**


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